August

Tree fruit

• Summer prune sideshoots on restricted trees (such as espaliers and fans) to three to four leaves to form fruiting spurs.
• Summer prune restricted apples and pears.
• If necessary, prune nectarines, apricots and peaches after they have fruited.
• If necessary, prune plums, gages and damsons immediately after harvest.

Soft fruit

• Water cranberries, lingonberries and blueberries regularly with rainwater. Tap water will do if butts run dry.
• Loosely tie together new blackberries and hybrid berry canes.
• Remove straw and old leaves and tidy up strawberries after fruiting.
• Prune out fruited summer raspberry canes and tie in new ones (pictured above).
• Plant out rooted strawberry runners.

Vine fruit

• Thin out indoor melon fruit to four per plant and remove the main growing tip.
• Support indoor melon fruit as they swell with tights or netting.
• Hand-pollinate female outdoor melon flowers, pinching out the shoot 2cm (0.75in) beyond the flower, then thin to four fruit per plant once set.

General

• Pull off suckers appearing around the base of fruit trees.
• Make sure fruit isn’t drought stressed - water well those in containers, against a wall or newly planted.
• Give regular liquid high potassium feeds to fruit growing in containers.
• Continue to provide support for heavily-laden fruit tree and bush branches.

Sowing and planting

• In the south of England you can still sow quick maturing salad crops such as summer lettuce, radish, rocket, sorrel, chicory and fennel.
• Continue to sow spring cabbage, turnips, Oriental vegetables and overwintering onions, in the south of England.
• Sow green manures such as crimson clover and Italian ryegrass to act as a soil improver and to cover bare areas. When dug in, they conserve nutrients and improve soil texture.

General care

• Irregular watering can lead to problems with blossom end rot in tomatoes, splitting of root vegetables and flower abortion in runner beans. Help prevent this by watering well during dry spells.
• Weeds can also compete with vegetables for water, and act as hosts for pests and diseases, so remove regularly by hoeing.
• Marrows should be raised off the ground slightly, to prevent them discolouring from contact with the soil.
• Continue earthing up celery, putting a layer of paper between the stems and the soil.
• Take care when thinning out any late-sown carrot seedlings to prevent the scent released attracting carrot fly females.